by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Feb 13, 2014 | Business Values, Communication, Small Business, Social Media
In this cattle drive of digital marketing it is easy to get trampled amongst the hooves of the masses. The pasture is astronomical in size and you may feel like a speck on a “patty.” Literally hundreds of millions of people are clamoring for space to be outstanding in their field, to have their voice heard; their brand recognized.
Jumping on a soapbox with a megaphone sure sounds like a great idea, but just how can it be accomplished in the stampede?
As you have read, it takes time, painstaking effort and a hell of a lot of energy, every single day, to retain and maintain your online presence. It is time consuming and can also divert your focus away from your core business.
There are dos and don’ts and best practices published every second. Let’s just say it is information overload, enough to make your brain explode. Your most esteemed colleagues, industry thought leaders, marketing organizations and the like are continually evaluating, suggesting, studying and pushing content on what to do and how to do it best in order to achieve your social media marketing goals and business success.
You sometimes may feel the urgent need to test the suggestions, add new plugins, try the tools but it gets to a point where it is almost impossible to dedicate your time ON your business because you are so entrenched with the current recommendations for a positive, productive online experience, both for you and your customer.
- Step back.
- Take a breath.
Step above the herd:
- Evaluate some of the tips and tools
- Implement some – test and measure results
- Be cognizant of YOUR strategy and goals
- Realize you can’t try everything and not everything works for everybody
- Know your real value proposition
- Educate your followers about your solutions, not your widgets
- Sell VALUE not cost
- Be authentic
- Engage in real-time, one on one conversations
- Continue to educate yourself
- Nurture relationships
- Write QUALITY content
- Consistency counts
- Share and syndicate your posts
- Be passionate about your business and your customers
- Never make promises you can’t keep
- Share and retweet others
- BE social, don’t do social
- Give without expecting something in return
- Express your gratitude
- Join in community discussions, offering valuable insight, not just idle chatter to get noticed
- People buy from people – let them see you’re human, not just a brand
- Think: RELATIONSHIP MARKETING
It certainly isn’t easy and some days may feel a bit rougher than others but never, ever give up. You’re an entrepreneur. A business owner with a dream and THAT is worth pursuing. You’ve come this far just figure out what works best for you and your company. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel by any means but you do have to take action everyday. I am not saying to bury your head in the sand and ignore some of the main premises and practices of digital marketing; that would be social suicide. Try and manage the overwhelm of the influx of data and suggestions. We all have different ideas, strengths, and opportunities to play upon. Pay attention but you don’t need to feel the craze and institute every single post you read.
Let your true passion tell your story and connect with the hearts and minds of your audience. While some others may just be link pushing or talking in the wind, YOU build and cultivate the relationships based upon integrity, value, character, trust, gratitude and of course some of the basics above. Be patient. Be present. Be you.
“When you’re about something that benefits others, you’re more believable and trustworthy. People want to know you’re not just in it for yourself.” Mike Henry Sr.
This all sounds pretty touchy feely but again, people buy from people they know, like and trust. Your reputation will precede you and your brand advocates will share, promote and talk about you. Word of mouth is your most powerful marketing tool.
What makes you stand out from the herd?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Feb 12, 2014 | Guest Blogger, Social Media
The way a brand manages its online presence on Social Media is critical. If the brand is managed poorly, they experience no growth and a decline in business. In comparison, if a brand is managed successfully, success follows with their audience going global about how great and unique the brand is. Resulting in increased sales and likeability. Below, are 8 tips for Social Media Success.
- Create a personal and memorable experience. Interact with your audience daily to ensure they know you acknowledge them. Surprise with a simple, “Thank You” and “How is your day going?” Respond to all negative and positive feedback publicly, well and quickly. Show them you care and value them when they reach out to you.
- Be ready with an answer to a question and solution to a problem. Do this by coming up with possible questions that may be asked or possible problems that may arise.
- Let your audience know they are your brand by asking what they want to see and their opinion. Then listen, respond and deliver. After all, a brand with no audience results in no brand and no growth.
- Work together as a team internally. Collaborate, hear all ideas and assign each person a task accordingly. Always have a back up person trained to handle online management in Social Media in case others are sick or an emergency arises.
- Make your online presence FUN. Let your audience know you are relaxed and inviting. Tweet and post humor, offer contests. Great aspect to have to show that you are friendly and ready to take the brand to relationship building.
- Plan ahead for the week. Have a backup strategy in place. Do this by creating a weekly agenda to help the brand stay on task and moving forward. It is important to always think ahead and be ready.
- Create content that educates and defines the brand as a valuable resource and engages. Create tips, share how to articles and ask questions to get your community involved. Keep it relevant, to the point, make it fun and never confuse!
- Being consistent on social media is the key to building loyalty and relationships. The more you show up, engage and create value on a daily basis the more others look forward to engaging with and trusting you. Being consistent also includes having a consistent brand message and voice across all social profiles which represents who you are, what you do and how you’re portrayed to the world.
Social Media success has many aspects and how well you adapt to each one will determine how your business performs. Time invested acknowledging, working together internally, educating and being consistent is a sure way to build relationships and see Social Media Success.
Guest Post by:
Jason Houck::Jason manages small businesses on social media and teaches engagement. He blogs at WeighYourMind.com and is a partner at Micro Media Marketing.
Connect with Jason
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by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Feb 11, 2014 | Small Business, Social Media
Mining your infinite online follower audience is a low-cost way to propel your small-business brand into the global digital world. Establishing your brand with social media allows you to cultivate relationships as well as strengthen existing ones. Your social media efforts can lead to brand recognition, credibility, brand advocates, increased web traffic, search rankings and word-of-mouth marketing. Social Media’s B2B Value: Building Relationships.
With 73 percent of U.S. internet users turning to social networking sites and 53 percent of American adults carrying a smart phone, businesses that don’t employ social network marketing may find themselves losing out to the competition.
According to a survey by VerticalResponse:
- More than two-thirds of small business owners are spending more time on social media than a year ago
- 43 percent of respondents said they spend six or more hours per week on social media activities for their businesses.
- They are posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and Google Plus and blogs.
You probably invested a great deal of time, effort and thought in building your website, writing content and developing your social channels with the purpose to showcase your products and services. You want to solve your audience’s needs and greatest pain points but if no one follows your brand, or can’t easily find you where THEY want to, then you will only be talking to yourself.
Social media is conversational and value added – allow it to flow as a two way conversation with visible methods of connecting with you and your brand.
Everybody’s talking at me
I don’t hear a word they’re sayin’
Only the echoes of my mind
People stopping staring
I can’t see their faces
Only the shadows of their eyes
Social Media Visibility: How accessible are you?
- Do you make it easy for your community to connect and engage with you?
- Is your page easy to navigate?
- Can people find your contact page?
- Are your social share buttons easily found?
- Do you visibly display all your other social channels?
Many of the projects I work on for my clients revolve around the numerous aspects associated with social media marketing and management. I was recently asked to review an extensive list of blog posts for data mining, pull out tweetable content and create a spreadsheet with some other detailed information.
One of the things I discovered was that many of the sites did NOT list their Twitter handle, anywhere, unless I Googled their company or personal name to find it. It was a necessary component for this project.
This was a little disheartening, even more time consuming. If you have an online presence, you should be straightforwardly displaying your social channels for your audience. They want to engage with you. They want to share your content and give credit but if they have to dig and search, you may be the one missing out on some free advertising and mentions with trackback links to your site. It is all part of the synergistic marriage and magic of social media.
Don’t make it a laborious chore to find and connect with you. Social media and your channels represent your largest piece of marketing real estate to build relationships. Invest your time or that of a virtual assistant to perform a social media review of your sites. It will prove to be an asset in creating a cohesive customer experience.
In a Market Probe International survey about small to medium sized businesses by Twitter they found:
- 74 percent of people who follow small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) follow to get updates on future products
- 47 percent of people who follow brands are more likely to visit the company’s website
- 70 percent of SMB followers retweet because they like the SMB’s content
- There is a 30 percent lift in recommendations of an SMB after following or interacting with them on Twitter
Maximize your platforms with your branding, cross promote, make connecting with you a simple single click of a button. Social is a 24/7/365 endeavor and while you may be offline, your global customers and network are busy searching, reading, sharing and engaging.
“We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it?” Erik Qualman
Streamline the process with your consumers, making participation, connecting and networking a no brainer. Know and understand your followers, what they want, who they are and where they “reside.”
“Over time social media has spawned into a global institution, allowing whole communities, businesses and individuals to engage with each other. Simply put social media is the superlative form of interaction available today.” Susan Dolan
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Feb 6, 2014 | Business Values, Communication, Entrepreneur, Small Business
Your business can’t survive online without the trust from your consumers. They won’t buy unless they feel the know, like, trust factor. You must earn the trust and loyalty of your audience; your community. Cultivate your relationships through authentic communications and reliability. Your network is always looking for validation to ensure that a potential partnership or connection is dependable, trustworthy and “real.” Remove the feeling of vulnerability and risk of doing business with someone behind a keyboard. There can be an uneasy feeling and some have been burned, which is something you must understand and respect from the customer’s point of view. It is up to you to help them develop a comfort level and place of safety to do business online.
I believe fundamental honesty is the keystone of business. Harvey S. Firestone
You don’t need a contract to instill honesty and live by a moral compass. Give out what you expect in return and nothing less. Your business depends on it. Your reputation will either make you or break you. Credibility and a sound reputation is what gets you to the finish line toward establishing rapport and a long term relationship.
Each of your social platforms showcase you and your brand. You have the opportunity to personally interact with your followers – your potential customers on a personable level. Let them get to know you through your content, postings, engagement and dialog. Keep it real and keep it you.
Trust = Authority x Helpfulness x Intimacy / Self-Promotion Steve Rayson The New Formula for Social Media Trust
Your 10 Tips to Build Trust:
- Offer solutions: SHOW them you care and are truly interested in listening and solving their problems. Consumers have pain points that need care and understanding. Demonstrate that you you know what they want and need.
- Communicate clearly and responsively. No one likes to be on hold listening to ear bleeding elevator music. Engage. Whether you are responding to a post comment, email or client text message, don’t keep them waiting and wondering. Service them promptly.
- Be transparent. It helps to instill trust and shows the human side of your company and your brand.
- Be accountable. Do as you say; back up your words with actions and if you make a mistake, own it 100% and correct it. The customer is the one who writes your paycheck.
- Privacy and confidentiality. Respect a client’s proprietary information and discussions. There is no reason to share this type of data. You are being trusted with details or questions and they should not become public knowledge or water cooler chatter. Lock it up!
- Testimonials. When you receive recommendations, make sure they are openly displayed as they help to validate your service and your company. Add them to your website, email signature and other marketing collateral. If it is a tweet, then save it as a favorite so others can see “real-time” recommendations. Ask for them on your LinkedIn profiles.
- Under promise and over deliver. It may be a cliché but it is a premise of good business and service. There is nothing more disappointing or frustrating to be let down by a vendor missing a deadline.
- Educate and share valuable content. Enrich the lives of your audience without self-promotion and you become a trusted resource not a snake salesman.
- Feedback. Never bury your head in the sand. Always ask for feedback on a job, a post, a conversation. If you don’t ask, you don’t receive and you won’t know what you are missing. If you off point, you won’t be able to take charge and correct the course. Feedback is a valuable learning tool toward successful relationships and communication.
- Commit to your word. Very simple yet some have a propensity to fall back and forget such a courtesy. Do as you say without hesitation. There is enough misrepresentation in the world, especially online but if you intend to build your brand, your reputation and your business, then follow through with your verbal handshake.
How do you build trust and instill confidence with your customers and community?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Feb 4, 2014 | Productivity, Small Business, Time Management
You can’t “manage” your time but you can learn to better manage yourself. “Time management” takes discipline and commitment. There are many hindrances to time management but they all relate back to how you regulate your life and productivity levels. It is a matter of the daily choices you make and how you set your priorities. If something is that important to you, then you will get it done; otherwise, you will make excuses. Your success depends on getting the most out of each day.
We seem to think we have so little time to effectively manage our days and have some semblance of work life balance. You too want to get more things accomplished while the clock keeps ticking and more tasks seem to pile up. It can take all of the discipline you can muster to tune out the influx of information coming at you. Time can be an elusive mystery when you are in a constant struggle to find more of it, so it is up to you to invest in your time, in your life, in your business.
“People are always trying to find ways to save more money, but saving time may be the true mark of success.” Geoff Williams
Get a handle on your time, your interruptions, your distractions and your data overload. The first step toward success is to be cognizant of the level of disturbances which you allow into your day. It could revolve around the daily notifications you receive regarding text messages, emails, news alerts, phone calls or any other immediate disruption that diverts your focus from the task at hand. Learn to be fully engaged with whatever you are working on and give it 100% of your focus, otherwise, it may only get half done or be done inefficiently. Decide what is most critical and stop multi-tasking. It diminishes your productivity, may change your brain chemistry and increase your error rate.
Another substantial detraction from your efficiency level is the organization of your office space. When you create a more structured environment you become more efficient and effective. You are no longer scrambling to locate important papers, files, emails or even your keys. Your time management increases as does your personal and professional productivity. Your setting is not just about physical space but mental as well. If you reside in chaos or mayhem, it does transmit into your work habits and daily living.
Being busy, doesn’t equate to being productive. You could be wasting your time and energy doing menial tasks or simply procrastinating. Focus on real work that gets you closer to your goals. Ask yourself, “Does this serve my goals? Is it getting me closer to completion?”
“When we’re busy, we see that as being productive, when productive is really narrowing down what we need to do.” Cathy Sexton, time management specialist.
Time Management:
When you learn to manage yourself, you will better manage your time.
- Turn off notifications
- Set priorities and goals
- Don’t procrastinate
- Time block your day and schedule
- Organize your data
- Institute systems and processes
- Develop a routine
- Set boundaries
- Use your calendar for appointments and To Dos
- Use action steps for items on your To Do list
- Stop multi-tasking
- Keep your workspace orderly
- Use news aggregators for your RSS feeds
- Automate social postings
- Schedule time to engage in social media and stick to it
- Check email at specific intervals
- Learn to say no
- Get appropriate amounts of sleep
- Know your most productive time of day
- Delegate
“He who every morning plans the transaction of the day and follows out that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the maze of the most busy life. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidence, chaos will soon reign.” Victor Hugo
What steps are you ready to implement in order to become more productive and manage your time? Sound off!!
